


An AU in which Connor has a camera and creepy places call to him

by Zara_Zara



Series: The Murph Channel (Army) [1]
Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: AU- everyone lives, Fluffy?, No Angst rly, Oneshot, Rated T for swears, Who am I kidding? OOC, Youtuber AU, i shoulda been working on another fic but I wanted to write this, idk - Freeform, its tame I guess, maybe ooc?, references suicide attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 04:43:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20186467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zara_Zara/pseuds/Zara_Zara
Summary: Exactly what the title says. Connor has a YouTube channel where he goes exploring creepy-ass-abandoned places and one of those places happens to be a cabin in the woods where Evan is Jr. Park Ranger at.





	An AU in which Connor has a camera and creepy places call to him

Connor turns the camera on.

“Hey Murphs, today we're heading out to look for more abandoned and dangerous sketchy-ass places.” His eyes flicker between the camera lens and the road.

“We're heading to Ellis Park today and I've heard that these woods are creepy as hell at night.”

It’s not yet dark as the sun is just about to set, casting what he can see of the sky in brilliant reds and oranges. As he speeds deeper through the woods, more and more tall trees appear and cast thick shadows upon the road.

“Let’s be real, anything can be creepy at night. Especially walking around in forests at night...Alone.”

To be frank, none of that really bothers Connor. He figures, if he ends up dying out here by falling into a hole, by tripping and cracking his head on a boulder, by some random-ass branch breaking on top of him, by some bear, or serial killer, or hell, even bigfoot sending him to kingdom come---if he ends up dying some atrocious death, at least it would be the world-order taking his own life for him. 

Trees whip past him and Connor knows that when he looks back at the footage the trees will barely be visible, just blurs in the background appearing like a solid mass of darkness.

“This park is pretty close to my house so I figured we might as well spend a good portion of the night in these woods getting cold and tripping over random shit. Maybe we’ll see something we aren’t supposed to see out there like in those movies where the main characters find a secret government facility or a cult ritual going on.”

What he doesn’t mention is that anything would be better than spending a second longer in his own house. Summer vacation makes it unbearable to be around his family and cooped up in that place where he feels like he’s moments away from breaking something, someone, or just falling apart himself. 

“Apparently there is quite a bit of paranormal activity in these woods. I don’t know how much of those stories are true but I guess if we see some small child vanish behind a bush then they could be true. Ya never know though, I would still be a little skeptical ‘cause kids are just weird like that.”

Connor pauses, he raises the windows to his car because he doesn’t want to mess up the audio. It’s still fairly warm out because of summer so he turns the AC on since he doesn’t want to take off his sweater. 

“Ok, so what I really want to see is this weird cabin in the woods kind of situation going on in the forest. There is actually a cabin that people have seen some ways away from the trail. It supposedly just appeared some day and looks like no one had ever lived there or something.”

Connor sets his car into park. There are many spaces available since it is nearing sundown and no one really wants to be there once the sun sets. 

“So, lets try and find this bitch.”

+++

His camera isn’t the greatest, it’s pretty old and he had found it like a week after he tried to hang himself in the closet. That had epically failed because when he had kicked the chair, it had made a god-awful racket alerting his sister to what he had done. The stupid chair had knocked some stuff off the shelves in his closet on its way to foil Connor’s plan. One of those things had happened to be a camera he had gotten for his birthday way back. 

The thing works alright though and he loosely wraps the camera grip around his hand as he walks the trail. As he walks he chatters inanely at the camera, pointing out how dark it’s gotten since the sun has now properly set by the time he has made it half-way through his journey. 

Connor feels a sudden wave of apprehension as he swivels around with the camera because he thought he had seen a flicker of something in his peripheral vision. “Shit,” he whispers and aggressively turns off his flashlight. Connor squints, trying to make out if he had actually seen the bobbing of a flashlight or not but he doesn’t catch anything suspicious. 

He turns back to the camera, “Thought I saw something. Like a flashlight...Maybe someone is following me? That'd be creepy as fuck.” He continues his inane chatter. In a way he had never thought of before, the mindless talking at the camera is in its way comforting. He doesn’t have to talk too much about himself but he comments about a chill he feels in the sudden breeze and the odd rustle he had heard some ways behind him. It all pretty much consists of sensory details that he shares with the viewers. They don’t really expect him to share much about himself---they just want him to share his experience with them because they would never do something as stupid as what he’s doing. 

“Ok, so I think I found the marker.” Connor raises his flashlight up to a particular tree. He had had to turn on the flashlight not too long into his trek because he had to see better so as to not completely miss the marker. Plus, it had gotten stupid dark out there and he is not immune to the instinctual weariness people feel over being in the dark in the woods. 

“Yeah, do you see it?” Connor points the camera at a rather innocuous looking red cord threaded through the branches of a dangerously leaning tree. The leaning tree rests on another and they form a triangular space between them. The camera sweeps down as Connor points out how another trail appears to break off from the one he is on. 

He hears another snap and this time when he whips around he jumps when his flashlight lands on some random guy. 

“AH!” They both scream. 

“What the actual fuck?!” Connor yells. It's a goddam miracle his camera didn't fly out of his hands when he jumped. 

“Aw sh-shit! Suh-sorry! Sorry!! I just thought I had seen you coming to the trail and I recognized you from school---we’re in the s-same year” Connor shines the flashlight in the guys face and brings the camera up to his own face like crappy protection. Fuck. He does. Recognize the guy. 

“What the hell, Hansen?!” Connor doesn't know whether to stay and hear what the hell Hansen is thinking or run away. 

Hansen raises his hands, “Seriously! I'm so sorry! I-it was just about the time everyone leaves but-but I saw your c-car was still there a-and I thought th-that was odd? So then I th-thought I should go walking in the tr-trail after you...I don't know why I did because I should've told my superior but they really wanted to go home because it's their daughters birthday and I didn't want them to hate me...Anyways, I'm sorry for sc-scaring you. Just so you kn-know you kinda scared me there too so...Sorry, I'm ram-rambling b-but now it's dark and I don't know if this was su-such a good idea.” Hansen wheezes out a breath and wipes away sweat that had beaded on his forehead. 

Ok, there is a lot to unpack there.

“What the hell?”

“Sorry?” Hansen cringes and wringes at his hands. 

Connor smacks his forehead and addresses the camera, “Well, looks like we have unexpected company.” He turns it to Evan, “You wanna join me or what?”

“Join you?”

“I'm filming for my channel. I go to creepy-ass places like this one.” He gestures towards the dark forest, “aaaand explore.”

“Um.”

“It's either that or you’re walking back by yourself ‘cause I'm not coming with.” 

“I don't think this is a good idea.”

“Ok.” Connor spins on his heel and starts walking through the brush, beneath the leaning trees and the barely visible off-trail. 

He hears Hansen gasp, and stumble after him, “Wait! I'll go with you.” 

“Great.” Connor rolls his eyes and steadies Hansen as he nearly trips next to him.

Connor resumes his chatter at the camera but every now and then he'll turn towards Evan and ask him something. 

“You work here right, Hansen? Tell us, do you know anything juicy about the cabin?” He waggles his eyebrows. 

Evan frowns. “The cabin?” As an afterthought he adds, “I'm a Jr. Park Ranger.” 

“Dude, you work here and you haven't heard of it?”

It's clear given the look Evan is giving him that he has no clue what Connor is talking about. So he tells him what he told the camera earlier, all the while Evans eyebrows crawl higher and higher up his forehead. 

“We're g-going to that?” He squeaks, drawing very close to Connor.

“Not going. We're here.” His flashlight lands on the cabin. It's decrepit and the windows are virtually non-existent. There are clear, thick spider webs coiling around the walls. The door to the place hangs ajar, the flashlight casts a light on the exterior but nothing in the interior is visible---it's all dark. 

And boy is it creepy as fuck. 

Connor whistles. 

Evan shushes him, “Stop it!” He hisses, “You'll attract a criminal.”

“A what now?”

“When you whistle in the dark you'll attract trouble.”

Connor raises his brow, “Never heard of that one. I whistle all the time in the dark and I've never been mugged.”

“Whatever.” Evan rolls his eyes and mutters. “If The Texas Chainsaw Killer comes it's your fault.”

Connor snorts and raises the camera, “I'm sorry, care to repeat that to the viewers? You think some guy with a chainsaw will drive over a hundred miles from Texas to slash us ‘cause I whistled?”

“It's just an example!” Evan huffs.

Connor kinda feels bad now for dragging this poor guy after him---but really he coulda left without him and gone back but nooo. Obviously he's nervous with all the fidgeting and closeness to Connor. “Come on. Let's go in.”

“I'll…” Evan shifts on his feet, looking at the cabin and also obviously considering staying put. A snap sounds somewhere in the distance. Evan furiously nods, “Let's go.”

Connor has got to admit having someone else to film one of these videos isn't as bad as he thought it would be. Although it's kind of hard splitting his camera between filming the exterior of the rundown cabin and his unexpected companion. Evan kinda looks cute right now and Connor zooms the camera in his face a little, a smile playing at his face. He asks, “Evan, what do you think? Should we put a down payment on this place?”

“If it doesn't come with a complimentary ghost---no deal.”

Connor chuckles and steps into the place.

There's nothing inside except for shredded newspapers and animal litter. It's pretty nasty inside and Connor goes through great lengths to describe the nastiness to the camera. He turns to Evan at one point to find him standing rigged at the entrance to the place, refusing to enter. 

“Care to breath asbestos with me?”

Evan doesn't even crack a smile. He fidgets with his fingers, “Can we go now?”

Connor already filmed as much as he wanted to of the place and his camera is going to die soon anyways. He shrugs, “Yeah, let's go.”

+++

All the way back to the main trail and then main entrance they talk. Connor abandons addressing the camera and instead just talks to Evan about menial things. 

He asks him about the trees, about the park, his favorite movies, his number---things like that. 

With the latter question Evan stumbles again and Connor can just tell Evan is blushing---he just wishes he could see it without pointing the flashlight at Evan and clearly trying to see. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't too. 

“I'll text you if there is another creepy-ass place around these woods here.” Evan informs Connor before they leave.

“And I'll let you know if I go someplace else---like the haunted Maguire Hotel or something---you can come with.”

“Please don't. Or maybe do. I don't know.” Evan smiles and Connor does too.

+++

As Connor pulls up to his house, he notices the camera is still on. He turns it off.

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for the crap title. I literally just had this saved in my docs as Camera lol. 
> 
> Anyways, I also apologize for this scrappy fic, I wrote it all in like 2 days with virtually no editing. 
> 
> Yea...and it shows haha 
> 
> Anyways (again) hope ya enjoyed!


End file.
